Shloka 42

Arjuna meets the Lokapālas, is tested by Indra, and is led to Amarāvatī for astra-śikṣā

Indraloka-gamana

Devanagari script

विभजन्‌ सर्वभूतानामायु: कर्म च भारत । अहोरात्र॑ कला: काष्ठा: सृजत्येष सदा विभु:,'युधिष्ठिर! यह सूर्यदेवकी निरन्तर चलनेवाली गति है। सूर्य कभी एक क्षणके लिये भी रुकते नहीं हैं। वे सम्पूर्ण भूतोंके रसमय तेजको ग्रहण करके पुनः उसे वर्षाकालमें बरसा देते हैं। भारत! ये भगवान्‌ सविता सम्पूर्ण भूतोंकी आयु और कर्मका विभाग करते हुए दिन-रात, कला-काष्ठा आदि समयकी निरन्तर सृष्टि करते रहते हैं!

Transliteration

vibhajan sarvabhūtānām āyuḥ karma ca bhārata | ahorātraṃ kalāḥ kāṣṭhāḥ sṛjaty eṣa sadā vibhuḥ ||

Translation

毗舍波耶那说：“婆罗多啊，这位大能之主（太阳）恒常为一切众生分配寿命与业行之果。不断创造时间之流——昼夜，以及kalā、kāṣṭhā等细微度量——他维系着世界有序的运行。”

Word by Word

विभजन्dividing, apportioning

सर्वभूतानाम्of all beings

आयुःlifespan

कर्मaction, deed (destined work)

चand

भारतO Bharata (descendant of Bharata)

अहोरात्रम्day-and-night (the nychthemeron)

कलाःparts (time-divisions), kalās

काष्ठाःtime-units (kāṣṭhās)

सृजतिcreates, produces

एषःthis (one)

सदाalways

विभुःthe mighty one, the all-powerful

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira as addressee)

Sūrya/Savitṛ (the Sun, implied by context)

Ahorātra (day-night cycle)

Kalā (time-unit)

Kāṣṭhā (time-unit)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents time as a divinely sustained order: the Sun, as a cosmic regulator, continually generates the measures of time and thereby ‘distributes’ beings’ lifespan and karmic outcomes—emphasizing that ethical causality (karma) unfolds within an ordered, ceaseless temporal flow.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana is explaining to Yudhiṣṭhira the Sun’s unbroken motion and cosmic function: by producing day and night and finer time-divisions (kalā, kāṣṭhā), the Sun maintains the world’s rhythm in which beings live out their allotted life and experience the results of their actions.